The employment law in Ireland will likely alter, which will affect both businesses and employees. These modifications to the existing laws, which range from parental leave to flexible working, are meant to enhance the workplace.
We advise seeking employment law guidance for businesses if you are uncertain how the changes to the legislation may affect your firm or employees. So, in this blog, we will discuss all the changes that occurred in employment law in Ireland.
Parental Leave & Employment Law in Ireland
The expansion of parental leave in Ireland starting in July 2022 is an additional adjustment to employment rules. Parental leave offers parents paid time off after the birth of a child. It was first implemented in 2019 and extended for the first time in 2021.
The current parental leave allowance is five weeks, but starting in July 2022, it will be seven weeks. Due to this rule, parents are permitted to leave their jobs to take care of their children. This paid leave may be taken after two years of the child’s birth.
Whistleblowing Legislation
The Protected Disclosures 2014 Act will be amended in 2022, bringing about a number of significant reforms that will improve whistleblower protection.
These modifications include:
- An obligation for employers is to maintain working channels for reporting issues and to establish a clear process for handling protected disclosure requests from employees.
- Changing the terms of “worker” to include anyone connected to an employer in the ability to make a protected statement. Included in this are volunteers, job candidates, shareholders, etc.
- A more thorough definition of pertinent wrongdoings now takes into account violations of laws governing data protection, public procurement, public health, and many other areas.
- Introduction of criminal sanctions for certain punishments, in particular, which includes violating a whistleblower’s confidence.
So, keep these changes in your mind while learning about paternity leave in Ireland.
Adaptable working conditions
The COVID-19 epidemic made flexible work schedules more common by enabling staff to work both in the workplace and from home. Hybrid working is the term for this. Employees in Ireland now have the freedom to request remote work under the new Right to Demand Remote Working Bill 2022.
However, the employer has the discretion to approve or reject this request. Rather than the more conventional workplace, this new regulation seeks to promote more flexible hybrid work arrangements. Employers must now have a working remotely policy in place in order to support this. So, keep this point in your mind while reading about absence management in Ireland.
Wrapping Up
The rules governing employment law in Ireland have changed in a number of ways by 2022. Each of them attempts to increase fairness in the workplaces across the nation.
In addition to greater flexible working alternatives, these improvements also included gender wage disparity reporting to lessen the effect of the pay disparity. Additionally, the law has addressed parental leave, SSP extension, and whistleblowing rules.
